Men’s Basketball: Wright, Robinson step up to lead Pitt to victory

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Lamar Patterson’s game was noticeably affected by an injury  he suffered against Miami on Wednesday, which made his right hand useless. He couldn’t rebound the basketball, shot multiple airballs from 3-point range and missed a number of free throws after it seemed as though Virginia Tech’s players intentionally put him on the line near the end of regulation and overtime.

Unfortunately, one of his fellow senior leaders was almost equally ineffective. 

Talib Zanna wasn’t close to the player he’s been this season, averaging nearly a double-double per game. Against the 6-foot-10 Joey van Zegeren and 6-foot-11 Trevor Thompson, Zanna could only muster seven points and seven rebounds. 

No. 25 Pitt (20-4, 8-3 ACC) didn’t clinch its 13th-consecutive 20-win season Saturday afternoon because of its senior leaders. Rather, the Panthers avoided an upset at the hands of the league’s worst team behind redshirt junior Cameron Wright and sophomore James Robinson, who guided Pitt to a 62-57 win in double overtime.

“I feel really confident in those guys, and I think they feel confident when Lamar isn’t out there as well,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. “There are going to be some times when you’re not 

going to have every guy shoot it well and have their best game. You have to play through it.”

Wright and Robinson played through it, and each made signature plays of Pitt’s season so far. 

The first came with about five minutes to play and the game tied at 41-41. With a loose ball seemingly headed out of bounds, Wright speared through multiple Hokies and jumped onto the scorer’s table to save the ball and dish it back to Josh Newkirk. 

At the end of the sequence, Newkirk threw down a dunk he called a turning point in the game. 

“I knew I was trying to save the ball and not trying save my life during the play,” Wright said. “Every day I just try to play my heart out for my teammates. It could be my last game any day, so I try to play my heart out for my team.”

Wright ultimately was the game’s leading scorer with 18 points alongside six rebounds, three assists and two steals. But there’s no category in the box score that quantifies the way Wright plays the game with abandon. 

“I love it. It’s fun,” Wright said. “When you lay everything on the line for your teammates, it is a great feeling.”

And that style of play has continued to manifest itself for Wright, now in his fourth year as a Panther.

“It’s something that we’ve continued to talk to him about — getting loose balls and using his quickness and athleticism and getting on the floor,” Dixon said. “He is by far our best guy getting on the floor and getting loose balls.” 

Wright’s hustle play resulted in two of Newkirk’s 11 points, which tied a career high for the freshman.

“It was great hustle by Cam. I thank him for the pass,” Newkirk said. “I had to finish it and finish it right since he made that spectacular effort to get the ball. It was a great play.”

But the Panthers needed another big play from the perimeter as they faced a 48-44 deficit after van Zegeren made a pair of free throws with 40 seconds left in the second half. Wright had a hand in that one as well. 

Against Virginia Tech’s zone defense, Wright found a soft spot late in the shot clock and drove to the interior. When the defense collapsed on him, he kicked to Robinson in the corner. 

“The ball was swung to me, and, as always, when I see a gap, I try to attack it,” Wright said. “I saw my point guard, who has been knocking down threes the entire season. I have a tremendous amount of faith in him knocking the shot down, and that is what he did.”

Not only did Robinson knock down the 3-pointer, he also drew a foul from Jarell Eddie, which sent him to the free-throw line with a chance to tie the game on a rare four-point play. 

“I was really concentrating on making the shot more so than drawing the foul,” Robinson said. “He was a little too close, and we got the call.”

Robinson made the free throw to tie the game and send it to overtime, after a play on which he recorded four of his 16 points. Despite a 1-of-19 shooting effort in overtime, the Panthers did not give up a field goal to the Hokies, holding their opposition to 0-for-13 from the field in the extra 10 minutes.

But the overtime and victory were all made possible by Pitt’s guards.

“Wright is tough, he came out and got them going, and those guys are veteran guys,” Virginia Tech head coach James Johnson said. “And Robinson is as steady as they come in this league. It was definitely big for them to step up.”

While the win might not be of high quality because of Virginia Tech’s record (8-15, 1-10 ACC), Dixon feels good about winning a second-straight overtime game after the Panthers lost to No. 20 Virginia in the final seconds a week ago at home.

“I feel good about the win,” Dixon said. “You don’t play great every game, but we played well at the end. I thought we showed a lot of character, and that’s most important.”

And what is the largest part of Pitt’s character that showed? Confidence, especially on the behalf of Wright and Robinson to respond to a challenge — or “pressure” — while Patterson and Zanna struggled.

“I wouldn’t call it pressure, I don’t believe in pressure,” Wright said. “I know Lamar has confidence in all of us, as well as I do. I had a lot of confidence that Josh was going to knock those free throws down at the end of the game. I had a lot of confidence that James was going to knock that 3-pointer down at the end of the game.”